


Candied Chaos

by solsticeScriptures



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Gen, Halloween, Sibling Bonding, also bruno's eight pack makes an appearance, grima is here too he's a big mood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 02:57:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18188876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solsticeScriptures/pseuds/solsticeScriptures
Summary: In which Loki says there's an important clue at the harvest festival, Bruno dons the worst Halloween costume in the history of mankind, and Veronica is just tired of constantly attending festivals.Oh, and Grima is forced to babysit three dragon children.





	Candied Chaos

**Author's Note:**

> stares distantly at all my unfinished, old, probably badly-written fanfics  
> it's been years.
> 
> so i'm not confident at all in my characterisation skills but i wrote this while joking around with two of my friends about bruno's whole motive for going to the spring festival or whatever it's called. like... he's showing up there in full bunny get-up just because he overheard there's a clue there. so like... what's stopping him from doing that for all other banners? show up at the christmas banner to give out gifts in order to obtain a clue. show up at the beach in swimming trunks to fight a shark for more clues. etc, etc.
> 
> either way, i hope that i managed to portray them well enough. enjoy!
> 
> (oh, and grima's here too because i sure do love me some grima, especially if he's stuck with babysitting kids, but more specifically, babysitting kana.)

“Did you have any luck in finding what you want, brother?”

Veronica stared at her brother, who was slumped over at the table they were seated at, masked face buried in his arms as she poured tea into his cup. Bruno had just returned from yet another long journey into another world, and although Veronica wanted to hope that he had found what he was looking for, his current attitude clearly said otherwise.

Bruno didn’t even respond to her question. Instead, her brother let out a muffled groan, refusing to look up and actually talk to her.

Placing the teapot back down onto the table, Veronica took a sip of her own drink, glancing at her brother. “...Regardless, I hope you can feel better soon. It’s been a long time since you came back home.”

Silence.

“...I was hoping we could spend some time together too,” Veronica added, still fixated on her very depressed brother, who barely responded with anything more than yet another muffled noise.

...Well it didn’t matter anyways. Bruno would feel better eventually, Veronica _knew_ that he would. He just needed time to accept the fact that his mission was an incredibly hard one, trying to track down bits and pieces of information linked to some sort of “blood curse” that apparently both she and her brother had. Veronica didn’t really know much about it herself, but whatever it was, it was important to her brother.

Just as she was finishing her cup of tea, placing the empty teacup back down onto the table, a bright flash of light filled the room, forcing Veronica to shield her eyes as a figure crashed in. Squinting through her fingers, Veronica caught side of a familiar person, who was walking over to tap her brother with the edge of her staff.

When Bruno didn’t respond, Loki simply thwacked him harshly with Thökk, ignoring the way Veronica glared fiercely at her as Bruno yelped in pain.

Glancing around wildly, Bruno turned to stare at Loki, rubbing the spot on his head where the trickster had painfully smacked him with her staff. “Wh-?”

“So I _just_ heard that the harvest festival this year will be starting soon,” Loki said, voice sweet and dripping with honey as she flashed a smile at Veronica’s brother. “And I thought that _maybe_ you would like to come with me, darling. Oh, and you too, Veronica,” Loki added, turning to flash the younger of the Emblian siblings the same, sweet smile she gave to Bruno.

Veronica stared blankly at Loki, eyes narrowed. “...No.”

Loki pouted dramatically, lips turning into a frown as Bruno returned to slumping on the table like a dead man while Veronica poured herself another cup of tea, quietly ignoring the third presence in the room.

Veronica could only silently hope that Loki would leave after a while, that she would give up on trying to drag both Emblian siblings along with her to whatever ridiculous festival she intended to attend. The spring festival was bad enough, although Veronica would quietly admit to herself that the bunny costume she wore was _maybe_ slightly cute, and seeing her brother wear something apart from his usual dark, brooding outfit was a nice sight.

...Okay, even if Veronica didn’t _hate_ the spring festival, she simply didn’t want to attend another one. Not when she could spend some much-needed family time with her brother instead. After all, she hadn’t seen him in months, with his constant journeying.

Veronica took another sip of her tea. Loki tilted her head at Bruno.

“There’s a clue that you might be interested in at the festival.”

Veronica spat out her tea as Bruno jolted up, staring at Loki with a frantic look on his face. (Or at least Veronica assumed it was frantic. It was truthfully a little hard to tell what her brother was feeling at times, due to the fact that he constantly wore a mask over his eyes.)

Loki smirked, twirling her staff with one hand, the other one on her hips. “Get yourself a costume, and meet me at the festival in an hour.”

As the trickster vanished in a flash of light, Veronica could only watch as her brother practically _shot_ off, his chair clattering over and tumbling onto the hard, stone floor. As his frantic footsteps faded away, the young Emblian princess could only stare at the toppled chair in silence as she gently placed her unfinished cup of tea back down onto the table.

_So much for family bonding time._

 

 

 

“Ah- you’re _here,_ darling!” Loki’s overly sweet voice rang out through the air as Veronica stomped over to where the purple-haired trickster was, clutching a tome to her chest tightly. Loki was perched on top of a flying broomstick, one leg slung over the other as she leaned back, flashing Veronica a sly smile. “Oh, and you look positively _adorable,_ where did you find that costume?”

Smoothing out the rumpled cloth of the cloak she draped around herself, Veronica stared at Loki impassively, a blank expression on her face. “I found it in a closet somewhere.”

“Hm… I suppose that _does_ explain why it’s so crumpled, mm? Let me fix that for you.” Before Veronica could protest, Loki simply flicked her fingers, and instantly, the crumpled costume that she was wearing smoothened out.

...Well her costume _did_ look a little nicer now. But rather than thanking the trickster, Veronica simply looked around the area instead. “Is my brother here yet?”

“Bruno?” For a moment, Loki seemed to appear somewhat annoyed, a disgruntled look flashing onto her face for a split second before reverting to her usual, sly expression. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, Loki let out a long sigh. “Alas, your dear brother hasn’t shown up yet. Truly, I wonder what’s taking him so long. After all, the harvest festival begins soon, and if he doesn’t show up…”

“He won’t be able to win the clue that he needs,” Veronica finished, filling in the information that Loki omitted. Ignoring Loki’s praises, Veronica glanced up at the busty woman. “...And what are you dressed as?”

“Me?” Loki seemed shocked at the Emblian princess’ question, giving herself a quick once-over before turning back to face Veronica. “I’m dressed as a _witch,_ my dear.”

“...You don’t look anything like a witch,” Veronica replied flatly, taking in Loki’s outfit - a skimpy get-up that showed _way_ too much skin for the younger girl’s liking. The only thing that seemed to even remotely resemble a witch was the large hat perched on top of Loki’s head, replacing her usual tactician’s hat. _And I suppose the broomstick might be fitting too, though I don’t think most witches usually have those… Aren’t broomsticks just things people assume witches have?_

“...Darling? _Veronica?_ ” At the sound of her name, Veronica jolted, watching as Loki pointed behind the young princess.

“It seems that your brother has arrived,” the witchy trickster said cheerfully, seemingly amused by whatever it was that she was witnessing.

Despite Veronica’s slight frustrations that she was dragged along to yet _another_ festival and forced into wearing _another_ useless costume, Veronica couldn’t help but feel a little lighter at the thought that at least she would be spending time with her brother. Bruno’s quest for answers to their bloodline’s curse often left Veronica lonely, so even though the festival wasn’t a preferred way for her to spend time with her brother, she still felt a little happy at the thought that at least they would be fighting to win together.

And so Veronica turned around, ready to greet her brother with a small smile, before she stopped in her step, mouth gaping at the sight of Bruno.

Silence filled the air as the masked man approached them slowly, Veronica stammering as she grasped for words. She was pretty sure that Loki was smirking too, an amused look on her face as the trickster forced herself not to laugh.

Finally, Veronica opened her mouth, still staring at her brother’s abomination of a costume.

“Brother,” she began, voice strained, “why are you dressed as a book?”

 

 

 

“Grima! Grima!!” As the fell dragon turned to snap at whoever was shouting his name, a small blur barrelled into him, causing him to fall over onto the ground.

Before he could open his mouth to screech at whoever it was who knocked him over, he caught sight of a small child grinning at him, holding fistfuls of candy in both hands. It was Kana, one of the sons of one of the many heroes that kept getting summoned to Askr. His mother was… Corn or something, Grima couldn’t be bothered to remember.

Kana was beaming as he dropped some candy into Grima’s hands. “Some nice ladies gave me some candy just now!” he babbled excitedly, reaching up to readjust the horns on top of his head. The kid was dressed up as some sort of… dark dragon or something, Grima couldn’t remember. All he remembered was that the summoner had shoved not one, not two, but _three_ _very_ excitable children at him that day before pointing at one of the many portals around Askr and stating something about a “harvest festival” and “the Kanas and Tiki both really want to go there, and the Corrins are too busy to come along, so could you please take them there, Grima? Thanks.”

… As annoyed as Grima was at having to babysit three dragon children, they were, for the most case, harmless. And with the great big smile that Kana was giving him, dropping candy into his hands, Grima couldn’t bring himself to snap at the young boy. So instead, the fell dragon forced a grin on his face, which probably ended up looking more like a nasty scowl, and said, “That’s… really nice, w- _kid_.”

Kana grinned happily. “I know! The people here are so nice - ah, I have to go get some more candy! I gotta win the competition so I can have more candy to share with mama later!”

Before Grima could say anything, Kana took off, the young child darting across the decorating fields, the wide, cardboard wings as part of his costume swaying in the wind. Grima stared blankly at where the young dragon previously stood before sighing heavily, shoving himself up from the grassy floor.

...Kana gave him some candy. Staring down at the brightly-wrapped packing, Grima shrugged, before unwrapping the sweets, and slipping them into his mouth.

As he chewed on the treats, making a face at how sickeningly _sweet_ it was, he caught sight of a small group of three walking across the fields. Sweeping some of the long, green wig he was wearing out of his eyes, the fell dragon squinted at the trio.

He caught sight of a purple-haired lady with a witch’s hat - _Loki,_ he realised, rolling his eyes at the skimpy outfit the trickster was wearing, perched precariously on a flying broomstick. And was that Veronica with her? Grima could only stare at the small princess, who was tugging her long, dark coat close to her body, seemingly dressed up as some sort of vampire, as the summoner would call it. He watched as Loki plucked the tome Veronica was carrying out of her hands, turning it into, of all things, _a cup of juice_ , before passing it back to the impassive girl.

And then there was somebody hobbling along at a remarkably slow pace, wearing an absolutely horrible book costume. Grima stared in silence as he caught sight of the masked face of the book man, recognising it as Bruno, whom he hadn’t seen since the spring festival months prior.

Grima watched quietly as Bruno left the area with his sister and Loki, still dressed up in that horrible costume.

…In all his years of being alive, in all his years of being a creature of death and destruction and misery… He honestly had not seen anything as utterly horrendous as the book costume Bruno donned.

 

 

 

The harvest festival was going relatively well, Veronica thought, casting a spell with the strange, magical cup of raspberry juice Loki had turned her tome into just moments prior. Their small group of three had been smoothly progressing through the tournament to win the grand prize - a large supply of candy, which was the usual reward each year. The only difference was that while all the other costumed competitors were competing for the _candy_ , their ragtag trio were competing for an ancient book that the organisers of the festival had included in the prize that year.

Veronica didn’t really know why the organisers decided to add an old book to the grand prize. Loki had muttered something about “children stealing sweets”, but Veronica decided not to pay it any mind. After all, she was here to help her brother win in order to obtain the old book. The sweets were just a bonus that maybe she and her brother could enjoy once they were done.

As she walked into the field with Bruno and Loki, clutching her cup-tome in her hands, she stared down her competitors with a passive gaze.

Her competitors, the ones to have reached the final round of the tournament, the ones who had beaten everyone else thus far, was a bunch of young children.

Veronica stared.

“Aw,” Loki cooed from behind Veronica. “They’re so adorable! Ah, I do feel bad about having to defeat them… But I suppose it can’t be helped.”

As the battle begun, Veronica watched as the small group of children, spearheaded by a small, silver-haired boy dressed in a cardboard dragon costume, exploded into three screeching dragons, tattered costumes still dangling to their scales.

“...Well then,” Veronica heard her brother say, voice faint as the dragons leapt into battle.

 

 

 

The battle had been going well, Veronica observed, as she and Loki worked together to take out the second dragon. The first one had been swiftly defeated, turning back into a pouting, green-haired girl and running away to the side of the field. And with Loki’s healing assisting her, Veronica managed to blast the second with a wave of her magic, juice sloshing in her magical cup as the dragon transformed back into a silver-haired girl with a bun.

Letting out a sigh of relief now, Veronica turned to her brother, who was getting beaten up by the leader of the group. Before she could step in to blast the young dragon with a wave of fruity magic, Loki pulled her to the side, one hand on her shoulder as she simply said, “Watch.”

And as Loki spoke, the young dragon managed to rip through Bruno’s costume with a strong breath of water, ripping off the front part of his shoddy get-up. Everybody at the festival could only watch as Bruno withstood the attack, standing up tall with his arms finally free from the tethers of the horrible book costume he previously wore, his bulging muscles on display for everyone to see.

A loud round of gasping could be heard from the people gathered nearby, mostly consisting of heroes from Askr who had appeared at the festival in attempts to win the grand prize. Veronica thought she saw somebody in the crowds faint, but it was hard to tell from a distance.

So instead, she watched as Bruno gripped his tome tightly, before unleashing a strong wave of magic upon the young dragon, knocking him back and forcing him to de-transform back into a boy, cardboard costume in tatters.

Loki let out a laugh as cheering erupted around them, patting Veronica on the shoulder and ignoring the way the young girl glared at her. “It’s always fun to watch how people react to your brother,” she admitted, smirking as the two of them watched Bruno pick up whatever remained of his blown-up costume. “Although I will admit, I’m not opposed to his costume being destroyed. Not because of how muscular he is,” Loki added, clarifying her comment as she waved her staff in Bruno’s direction.

As she lowered her staff, which was simply Thökk decorated with garish candy decorations, Loki gave Veronica a smile. “I’m happy that his costume got destroyed because it was just… bad. Truly horrible. Where did he even get that monstrosity in the first place?”

Veronica didn’t answer because truthfully, she didn’t even know _where_ Bruno had obtained it. But Loki had a point. The costume that Bruno donned… was truly horrible. And no amount of familial love could convince Veronica otherwise.

 

 

 

As Grima comforted a crying Kana, who was sniffling to himself over his loss to the Emblian trio, he squinted at Bruno, who was talking to Loki and Veronica following the trio’s victory at the harvest festival. The well-muscled man was carrying whatever remained of his tattered costume under his arm, flexing his body for everybody in the slowly-dispersing crowds to see.

Grima grimaced. _Well at least his costume is destroyed. Thank the gods Kana shredded it._

As the female Kana approached the sobbing boy to comfort him, the young version of Naga’s voice following behind, Grima took a step back from Kana, standing up and folding his arms across his chest. He watched as the festival’s organiser - an Anna dressed up as a dapper devil, wearing a suit - carry the small pumpkin bowl of sweets to the winners, along with what seemed like an old, dusty book stuffed into the small container.

As Veronica accepted the bowl, hands clutching the orange container tightly to her chest, the fell dragon watched as Bruno pulled the book out of the bowl, dropping whatever remained of his costume back onto the ground as he flipped frantically through the pages.

_Ah. So that’s why they showed up this year._

As the Emblian trio began to walk slowly away, Loki turning in his direction to flash him a smile and a wave for whatever reason, Grima felt a tug on the long gown he was wearing. Glancing down, he caught sight of the young Naga’s Voice, who was dressed up in a miniature version of the red-and-blue clothes one of the heroes in Askr wore, carrying a cardboard replica of Falchion in her hands. She was frowning up at him.

“Why are you dressed like Naga?” the young dragon asked curiously

Grima flinched, before glaring at the young dragon. “Because the summoner forced me to, alright? Otherwise I wouldn’t dress up like that stupid-”

Naga’s voice stared up at him, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. “...Did the summoner make you wear that?” she questioned, tilting her head to one side. “Um… because they have a lot of costumes! Like my Mar-mar costume!” she proclaimed, waving her arms to show off the regal clothes she donned. “So... why are you dressed like _Naga,_ of all things? Why not something else?”

… He was going to kill the summoner for suggesting Naga as a costume once he got back to Askr. And quietly eradicate his past self for deciding to go along with it.

 

 

 

“So did you find anything in the book?” Veronica asked her brother as they walked along a pathway to the Emblian portal back home, Loki hovering somewhere behind them on her stick as she helped herself to candy stolen from Veronica’s bowl of sweets. The vampire-dressed princess watched as Loki levitated yet another treat out of the orange bowl, flying it over to where she floated behind the Emblian siblings.

Bruno frowned as he flipped through the pages slowly. “...Not yet,” the masked man finally said, speaking up his raspy voice. “But… Loki was right. I feel like this book could contain an important clue, something that could help me find out more about our lineage and curse.”

Veronica tilted her head. “So it’s useful then?”

“It’s… yes, it’s definitely useful.” Shutting the book, Bruno stuffed it below his arm, before glancing over at Veronica. “But enough about the book.”

“Hm?”

Bruno hesitated, before finally speaking up. “I’m sorry that you were dragged to yet another festival again. I’m aware that you didn’t… really wish to go to the spring festival months ago, and yet you went there because I was there.”

Veronica hummed as she listened to her brother apologise. “But… in the end, I got to spend time with you, didn’t I?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“Yes, I don’t really enjoy the festival, but…” As they approached the swirling portal to Embla, Veronica turned, giving Bruno a small, soft smile. “I got to spend time with you. And I think… that’s what’s important, in the end.”

Bruno was silent at that. Veronica couldn’t read his expression in the dim light, considering it was rather late at night, but she could only hope that her brother would understand her sentiments.

It took a while, but finally, her brother gave her a smile in return. Bending down to hug her, Bruno stood up, holding out one hand for Veronica to take.

As they approached the portal, ignoring Loki’s faint whines about not wanting to leave yet, Veronica glanced over at Bruno once more. “And… brother?”

“Yes?”

“Please never wear that costume again.”

“...Was it really that bad?”

“...Yes.”

 

 

 

Grima slammed open the doors to the library, jolting the summoner as he stomped into the room. Before the summoner could say anything, Grima ripped the green wig off his head, throwing it onto the floor and stomping on it harshly.

“Don’t ever make me dress up as Naga _ever_ again,” he growled, before turning around to trudge out of the room angrily.

Faintly behind him, he could hear the summoner yelling, “BUT YOU DIDN’T PROTEST TO WEARING IT! I GAVE YOU A CHOICE!”

**Author's Note:**

> please consider leaving kudos and also a comment if you liked this! comments do really encourage me to write more!  
> thank you for reading! ♡
> 
> twitter: serosephim


End file.
